1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a ready-to-assemble playpen for use by infants and young children and more specifically to a modular playpen with interchangeable components adaptable to fit any available shape or space by adding or removing components without the use of tools.
2. Description of Related Art
The use of playpen enclosures are well known. Whether at home, child-care centers, hospitals, or outdoors, playpens provide safety, mobility and entertainment for infants, toddlers and small children.
The typical playpens are square, rectangular, or circular in shape, and are high enough to prevent the child from climbing out of the interior of the playpen. Most playpens are comprised of netting allowing the occupant to observe the goings-on outside the confines of the playpen, and solidly-connected side walls. While these playpens serve their purpose of confining the child, the shape of the outer perimeter of the playpen is fixed and cannot be altered, or can only be done so with a significant amount of physical effort. Other types of playpens have removable components, but the components are different, and not interchangeable, therefore severely limiting the possible configurations. This creates significant problems when attempting to quickly assemble and re-assemble the playpen or to fit the playpen into areas limited by space constraints. If a family moves, goes on vacation, or visits friends, the playpen, due to its rigid structure, may not fit into another, differently-shaped room.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,081,723 issued to Saunders discloses a playpen with detachable sides to be used as security gates. Sides of the playpen can be removed and secured to the frame of a door. Although the invention in Saunders discloses removable sides, it fails to disclose a playpen with interchangeable components. Further, it fails to disclose floor pads which, supported by horizontal cross bars underneath the floor pads, form the base of the enclosure. Because the components in the modular playpen of the present invention are standard, in particular the side panels, the vertical uprights, and the cross bars, the playpen can be easily reconfigured to conform to differently-shaped rooms or spaces.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,544,870 issued to Kelley et al. discloses a play enclosure apparatus which includes a plurality of panels that are connected at their sides to form a play enclosure. In Kelley, each side panel has a first connector portion on one side and a second connector portion on its other side. This allows for any first connector portion to be releasably connected to another second connector portion on any other side panel. However, unlike the modular playpen of the present invention, the ability to reconfigure the enclosure in Kelley is limited. Because of its two different types of connector portions, not every side panel in Kelley can be connected to every other side panel in the same fashion. This severely limits its adaptability. One using the modular playpen with its standard groove-side panel connections, can removably connect each side panel to one of a plurality of grooves in any of the vertical uprights, thereby creating a myriad of configurations.